


Unfortunate Truth

by tini_dancer



Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [6]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: 90's Music, Alex Mercer Has A Sibling (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Alex Mercer Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer's Parents Are Homophobic (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer-centric (Julie and The Phantoms), Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon LGBTQ Character, Canon LGBTQ Male Character, Family Issues, Good Significant Other Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Homophobia, I Love You, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Music, Religious Discussion, Rock and Roll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28647783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tini_dancer/pseuds/tini_dancer
Summary: When Alex finds out that his parents never did come around to supporting and loving him after his death, he ponders on what is best for him: saving himself from heartbreak by not finding his sister or possibly finding acceptance from her as an adult. With the help from his bandmates and his boyfriend, Alex makes his decision, but is it worth it in the end?
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Julie Molina, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956655
Comments: 9
Kudos: 130





	Unfortunate Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings  
> -religious homophobia  
> -religious talk in general  
> -mentions of child abuse and assault (not described in detail)  
> -mentions of death and graves
> 
> Other notes  
> -as always, this is tied into my other one shots in this collection, but it can be read on it's own  
> -this one has some stronger language than my other one shots

It had been a calm Thursday afternoon. Julie was up in her room doing her homework, humming _Edge of Great_ quietly as she poked at her calculator and filled in her calculus worksheet. She wished she could have been rehearsing with the boys at that moment instead of struggling through derivatives, but school always came first. If she wanted to practice on weeknights, she had to have her homework done first. She understood this, and most of the time it wasn’t a problem. It didn’t help that she and the band had a really big gig coming up in a few weeks, and it didn’t help that she hated calculus.

Julie sighed and let her head fall as she heard a _whoosh_ to her left, “What did I say about boundaries?”

The area next to her on the bed sank a little. She looked up at Luke, who had a distraught look on his face. Julie pushed her school stuff aside and sat up, “What’s wrong?”

Luke groaned and ran and hand over his face, “You know that saying ‘everything isn’t always as it seems?’”

“That’s a strange way to start a conversation. And I only know that quote from the _Wizards of Waverly Place_ theme song,” Luke gave her a confused, yet annoyed look. Now was not the time, “Nevermind. What happened? Did something happen?”

“I mean, kind of,” Luke tucked his feet under himself and sighed, “I was at a parents’ house, and I listened in on their conversation while they were putting groceries up. What they talked about… I don’t know what to do with this information.”

Julie placed a hand on his knee, giving him a supportive smile, “You can talk to me about it. You can always come to me.”

Luke leaned into her a bit, “It’s not about me, though. It’s about Alex.”

She sat up a little, “Alex? I didn’t even know your parents knew him.”

“Oh, of course they did. They’ve known him since he and I were 7. They adored him. Turns out they still cared about him after we all died. And guess who didn’t?”

“His parents?” Julie furrowed her eyebrows, “But I thought they-”

“We all did,” Luke sounded exasperated, “I mean, the headstone? The flowers? The flag? You would think that meant that his family finally came around after he died.”

“...but it didn’t?”

Luke shook his head, then angrily said, “ _My_ parents bought his headstone. _My_ parents have been the ones taking care of it for the last 25 years. His parents didn’t give an ounce of care to their dead son. Apparently, all they were planning on doing was burying him and giving him a plaque. A _plaque_ , Julie! Alex’s family lived in the nicest area of Los Feliz, they could afford much more than that! They just didn’t care!”

At this point, Luke had stood up and was pacing a little. His face was red and his arms were flailing as he explained the situation. All Julie could do was sit there in astonishment. Her blood began to boil as she realized how little Alex’s parents respected their deceased son.

“This is so messed up…” she exhaled sadly.

“No crap,” Luke put his hands on his hips, “When the three of our families were talking after our deaths, the Mercers had openly admitted to not caring about what happened with their son’s body. They just knew they couldn’t leave him to rot in the morgue. My parents were pissed and apparently went off on them for not having an ounce of respect for Alex, then took it upon themselves to get a respectful headstone for him.”

Julie shook her head and wiped away a tear, “I don’t know how anyone could treat their child like that… especially after they’re gone.”

“You didn’t know his folks. They basically stopped acting like he existed after he came out to them. Does this surprise me? No. Does it still piss me off? Absolutely.”

“Are you going to tell Alex?”

Luke sighed, “I don’t know. I should. But I feel like it would bring him down again, like how he was after his parents basically disowned him. It was months of tears and panic attacks. I hated that I couldn’t be more helpful. I don’t want him to suffer again.”

Julie bit her lip and played with the hem of her jeans, “You can’t just keep this from him, though.”

“Maybe I’ll tell Reggie first. I mean, he is a bit of a blabber mouth, but he tends to shut up in the right situations. He knows the limits.”

“Just tell him, Luke,” she stood up to face him, “I know he doesn’t need anymore crap in his life, but you don’t want to risk him getting mad at you for hiding this.”

Luke closed his eyes, pondering what he should do. He had held a broken Alex in his arms before, multiple times. He didn’t want to do that again. He didn’t want Alex to break again. But Julie had a point, no matter what, Alex had his bandmates, his real family, supporting him no matter what. Risking a fracture in that relationship was not worth it. So he came to his decision and nodded.

“Alright. I’ll tell him.”

Julie reached to take Luke’s hand, giving it a firm squeeze, “We’ll tell him.”

So they did.

Later that night, Julie and Luke sat Alex down on the couch, Reggie taking a seat in the chair next to it. Luke told their drummer what he had heard his parents talking about, every so often looking over at Julie for support. Everytime he did, she nodded and gave him a sad smile. This was new news to Reggie as well, and as the story progressed, his face became as red as his bass. Julie had never seen him so angry.

Alex didn’t get angry. He didn’t even get that sad. He just sat there and listened to Luke, not looking at anyone. His gaze remained at a downwards angle for the majority of the conversation. There were no tears. There were not clenched fists. Alex just sat there and listened, almost content.

Once Luke was done talking, there were a few minutes of silence. Reggie got up and grabbed a set of darts, passionately throwing them at the board. Luke turned to Julie, who leaned into him and cuddled into his side, giving him some much needed physical support. He let out a sniffle and a tear escaped his eye. He glanced over at Alex, who was still in the same neutral position.

“Alex… please say something.”

For the first time in a while, Alex brought his gaze up and blinked away a few tears, “I shouldn’t be surprised at this point.”

Julie frowned, “Alex…”

“I mean, why should I be? They stopped treating me like their child when I was sixteen. You shouldn’t expect a couple to bury someone who isn’t their son.”

Reggie groaned, “But you _are_ their son, for crying out loud! No matter what they said, no matter how neglectful they were while you were alive, you were still their blood. They are genetically tied to you, how could they not feel the least bit of remorse?!”

Alex sighed, “Reggie, it’s not worth getting mad over.”

“But it is, Alex! Remember Jenny Frasier from high school?”

Luke sat up a little, “You mean the girl who was assaulted by her own father? This isn’t a good topic to bring up, Reg.”

Julie sat there disgusted at the thought of a girl her own age getting assaulted by their dad.

“Her dad died at the end of our sophomore year, and she missed a whole week of school. Even though he had treated her like something other than his daughter, she still mourned him. She still went through grief and they apparently still had a proper funeral and burial for him. If she could feel grief for her horrible father, then Alex’s parents definitely should have felt grief for their son. The fact that they didn’t sickens me.”

Alex shook his head, “Reg, just leave it. And calm down. You only get this logical when you’re pissed.”

“I have a right to be!”

“I know, I know,” Alex replied, “Just please sit down and chill out. For me.”

Reggie sighed heavily and sat back in the chair.

Alex turned to Luke, “Thank you for telling me. I know it was hard for you to do so, but thank you.”

Luke shrugged, “You deserved to know the truth.”

“I wish I could thank your parents. They always were so good to me.”

“I think they know you’re thankful,” Luke smiled somberly, “Even if you can’t tell them.”

Alex and Luke shared a warm hug, and soon the other two joined in. At that moment, it didn’t matter that Charles and Jennifer Mercer didn’t want to honor their son properly. All that mattered was the four of them and their bond.

Of course, the next day, Alex wasn’t as calm as he had been the night before.

He found himself in the Santa Monica Museum of Art, screaming his head off. All morning, his brain had been attacking itself with question after question, worry after worry. He needed a break. Julie was at school, and the other boys were off exploring, so Alex went to the museum to try and scream away his thoughts. It wasn’t working all that well.

“Holy hell, Hotdog,” Alex paused his screaming to turn around and face Willie, who was setting his skateboard against a pillar, “Remind me not to go near whoever pissed you off.”

“Don’t worry,” Alex grumbled, “I don’t know where they are anyways.”

Willie picked up on who he was talking about immediately, “Your parents?”

“They didn’t pick my headstone. They didn’t want to make me feel appreciated in the afterlife. It was the Pattersons.”

“Luke’s parents?”

Alex nodded, “The flowers, the pride flag, and the headstone itself. It was Mitch and Emily. When my parents didn’t want to give me a proper headstone, they took it upon themselves to do it for me. My parents barely even grieved for me.”

Willie walked over to his boyfriend and sat him on the stone bench that they had shared multiple times. He rubbed circles into Alex’s back and let him rant on, simply giving him a sign that he was listening and that he was there.

“I can’t imagine what they’ve said about me since,” Alex went on, a little sadder this time, “They probably act like I never existed to people they met after. And they probably lied to everyone about how I actually died. I mean, they were so worried about their image. Can you imagine them admitting that their son died eating a hot dog in an alleyway on the Sunset Strip? They were Reagan worshipers, I’m sure they tell people that no one in their family has ever stepped foot onto the strip. And I can’t imagine what they turned Katie into…”

Willie bit his lip, “Maybe she isn’t like them. I mean, she’s in her 30s now. You never know.”

“But I know my parents,” Alex replied, “After the disappointment I was, I guarantee they conditioned Katie to be just like them. She was always really impressionable. She was 12 when I died, they could make her whatever they wanted from that age.”

“First of all, you are not and will never be a disappointment,” Willie assured him, “Second, like I said, you never know. It’s 2020, I’d be shocked to see her stuck in the Reagan era while living in liberal California.”

Alex shrugged, “If she still does.”

Willie sighed and tucked his feet underneath himself, “Look, I know finding your parents is out of the question. They were horrible to you and you don’t owe them a visit. But you don’t know about Katie. Maybe… maybe you should find her.”

“Willie-”

“Just hear me out. You loved her to death, even after everything with your parents. You were her number one fan. Don’t you want to check up on her after all this time?”

Alex shook his head a little, “I don’t know, Willie. I guess I’m afraid to see how she turned out. I… I don’t want to know if she would hate me if she knew the real me.”

“And if she has turned out that way, then you know that she isn’t worth it. You know you have me and your band always,” Willie pressed a kiss to Alex’s cheek.

The drummer looked to the ground and whispered, “I want her to be worth it.”

“I know, ‘lex.”

Alex took a minute to think. To be honest, he knew what he wanted to do from the beginning. It just took some extra thinking to push him to do it. But in the end, he kissed Willie goodbye, poofed to Julie’s room, and joined her on her bed as she pulled up Facebook.

“Okay, how do you spell her name?”

Alex licked his lips, “K-A-T-H-R-Y-N.”

Julie’s eyes went wide after she hit the enter key, “Well, there are a lot of Kathryn Mercers in the world. This is going to take a while.”

Alex kicked off his shoes and settled into Julie’s mountain of pillows, “Then let’s start now and get it done faster.”

They scrolled for a while. Every few people, Julie would turn the screen towards him, and Alex would shake his head. Sure, they were blonde, but they either didn’t have brown eyes or they didn’t have a small mole under their right eye, which was one of Katie’s most distinctive factors. Alex reminded Julie of this multiple times.

After about twenty minutes, Julie clicked on a profile and put her laptop in Alex’s lap, “Kathryn Mercer Johnson. Blonde, brown eyes, mole under right eye.”

Alex sat up and looked at the profile picture, his eyes going wide. It was definitely Katie. She looked almost the same, even after 25 years and puberty. He couldn’t help but smile at how beautiful she had become.

Julie took the laptop back, knowing that Alex wasn’t very good at using the mousepad, “Okay, says here that she is married to Samuel Johnson. She is a teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School, and she lives in LA. I think this school is in Burbank.”

“So she still lives here…” Alex took a few deep breaths.

About 30 seconds later, Julie turned the screen back to him, “I found her address.”

Alex looked at her freaked out, “How the hell did you find her address?”

Julie shrugged, “I found her LinkedIn. It’s basically a social media but for your job profile. Her resume is attached, and her address is on her resume.”

“Holy crap, this isn’t far from Beverly Hills. Like at all,” Alex let out a surprised laugh, “I wonder what her husband does.”

A few seconds later, Julie had the answer, “He’s a president at a large technology company here. Probably makes about $500,000 or more. Most likely more.”

A little fear bubbled in Alex’s stomach. This couple already sounded a lot like the relationship between his own mother and father, with the husband being the breadwinner and the wife not making nearly as much. At least Katie had a job.

“There isn’t much on Kathryn’s Facebook. She’s shared a few motivational quotes, some pictures in her classroom, some of her family. Do you want to look?”

Alex nodded and Julie handed the computer back over to him. Gently, Alex scrolled through Katie’s page. He clicked on one of her and her family and his heart stopped. Pictured was his sister, her husband, and two brunette children, one boy and one girl. The girl looked to be the older sibling. Alex didn’t realize he was crying until Julie wiped a tear off of his face.

“You know, I could do something like I did with Mitch and Emily. You could give me something to give her. I could say that I found it cleaning up in here and that she was the only relative I could find of yours.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Alex grinned. He then reached down to grab his bag, which was sitting on the floor by his shoes. He unzipped it and pulled out a few polaroid pictures. He handed them to Julie.

“Are these of you and her?” She asked as she looked. Obviously it was, because in each of the three pictures were two blonde children, an older boy and a much younger girl. Each picture was dated at the bottom. Julie smiled and pulled Alex into a tight hug.

They agreed to go the next day. That Saturday afternoon, Julie rode the bus to Katie’s neighborhood. Alex rode with her, needing the comfort. They soon made it to the house. It was really big, but not mansion sized. It was actually smaller than the house Alex had grown up in. It was definitely the Johnson house, for their last name was on the front door. 

“You ready?”Julie whispered to him.

No, he wasn’t. But he never really was going to be, so he went ahead and nodded. Julie took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

A few moments later, a man with dark brown hair and a bit of scruff opened the door, “Hello? May I help you?”

Julie nodded and bit her lip, “Hi, I’m Julie Molina. I’m looking for Kathryn Johnson. Does she live here?”

The man nodded, “Yes, she is my wife. Why do you need to speak with her?”

“I found some things in my family’s garage that belong to her. I would like to give them to their rightful owner.”

“What are they?” Samuel asked, a little annoyed.

Julie glanced at Alex slightly, who was leaning up against the house fiddling with his hands. She pulled the polaroids out of her back pocket and held them up, “They are some pictures of her.”

Samuel eyed the pictures quickly, then nodded, “She’s in here. I’ll take you to her.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

Samuel guided Julie through the house to the living room, Alex trailing not far behind. While it was a large home, it was moderately decorated. A few family photos on the wall, some statues. When he reached the living room, the first thing he noticed was the large cross on the wall above the TV. The next thing he noticed was his little sister sitting on the couch with a book in her lap.

Alex was frozen in his tracks. She looked so similar to how she did when she was little. 

“Hey honey,” Katie greeted her husband, then looked at Julie, “hi, I’m Kathryn.”

“I’m Julie Molina, it’s nice to meet you,” they shook hands.

Samuel spoke next, “Julie lives in your childhood home. Says she found some pictures of you in the garage that was left behind.”

“Oh,” Julie shook her head, “I’m so sorry for the confusion. No, I don’t live in your childhood home,” she turned to Kathryn, “I live in the house where your brother’s band used to rehearse.”

There was silence. Julie looked between Samuel and Kathryn, who were both confused by what she had just said. She slightly shrugged at Alex, who was just as confused. He knew that that was his sister. There was no denying that.

“I’m sorry,” Samuel said, “You must be mistaken. My wife does not have a brother.”

Julie furrowed her eyebrows. She held out the pictures for Kathryn to take, “I found these along with some old instruments and a demo CD. These pictures are labeled to be of Alexander and Kathryn Mercer. I tried finding your brother, but I saw online that him and two of his other bandmates died a long time ago. So then I tried to find you.”

Kathryn took the pictures and studied them carefully. There was some hesitation in her breathing patterns. At this point, Alex had made his way to sitting next to his sister on the couch. He could tell that she recognized the pictures. 

“This is insane,” Samuel shook his head, “My wife is an only child. She has said so, her parents have said so. I don’t know who you think you are, but-”

“Sam, leave the poor girl alone,” Kathryn spoke up. She stood up, dusted off her jeans, and gave the pictures back to Julie, “I’m sorry, Julie, but this is not me. Yes, my maiden name is Mercer, but I never had a brother that died. I never had a brother at all.”

Julie’s face fell. She looked over at Alex, whose heart had definitely just been broken. He was standing right next to his sister, his eyes brimming with tears.

“Jules, she’s lying, she has to be,” Alex pleaded, “I know this is her. She looks almost exactly the same. Please keep trying.”

She swallowed a lump in the throat, “Mrs. Johnson, not to sound rude, but are you sure? Because you look almost identical to the little girl in these pictures, if I do say so myself.”

Samuel cursed under his breath and took the photos out of Julie’s hand, “This is preposterous… K-Kathryn, this does look a lot like you.”

“It’s not, Sam. Trust me.”

“Is everything alright?”

The group turned to see a young girl, maybe 13 or 14 years old, standing at the entrance to the living room. She had long brown hair and blue eyes. Alex’s heart skipped a beat. It was his niece.

Kathryn nodded, “Everything is fine, Lexi. Please go back to your room.”

Lexi nodded, “Alright,” before she left, she pointed to Julie and said, “I love your jeans.”

“Thank you,” Julie smiled, “I hand painted them.”

Lexi went back to her room, and Julie turned back to the Johnsons, “Look, how about you keep the photos for just a day. I’ll leave you my address and you can come back and return them to me if you want. Honestly, you can do whatever you want with the photos, but if you seriously don’t know who is in them, I’d prefer that you give them back so I can find the right Kathryn Mercer.”

Samuel agreed, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll do just that.”

Kathryn simply nodded a little. Julie then left her address on a slip of paper, then left. As soon as she was far enough down the driveway, she looked to the somber Alex next to her, “I am so sorry, Alex.”

“This is too freaking crazy,” he began, “That is Katie. I know it is. How could she lie?”

“Maybe your parents are making her? I don’t know if they would go that far-”

“Oh they would. That’s probably the case…”

Julie nudged him a little, “She named her daughter after you.”

“You can’t be so sure about that,” Alex argued.

“Her name is Lexi. I’m sure that’s short for Alexandra or something.”

He sighed heavily, “If she named her kid after me, then why is she lying about not having a brother? It’s just… God, it’s all so confusing.”

Julie offered him a small smile, “It’ll all work out. Trust me.”

The next day, Alex really wanted to be alone and work on some songs to help ease his mind. The rest of the band let him have his solo practice. Julie was in the house, probably doing homework or busying herself. Luke and Reggie had decided to go on their own adventure and mess with surfers on the beach. So Alex was left alone in the studio with earplugs in, going at it on the drums. 

He loved getting lost in the sound of his drums. The beats and rhythms helped calm his system in some of the most desperate times. The ability to hit something aggressively helped a lot, but the rhythm helped slow his heart rate, even if he didn’t necessarily have a heart anymore. The familiar movements to _Finally Free_ came to him, and he ran through that song three times in a row. It was a bit slower, but a bit more complicated. A good song to distract yourself with. But, at the end of the third run through, a figure by the doors caught his eye. He looked up and froze.

It was Katie.

And not only could he see her, but she could see him.

“Oh my…” her words caught in her throat. She closed the door behind her, then pinched herself. Alex took out his earplugs and stood up from behind his kit.

“Please don’t scream,” he asked quickly, unsure why those were the first words to come out of his mouth.

Kathryn inched closer to him, trembling, “Wh-what… who are you?”

Alex couldn’t help but give her a deadpanned look, “You know who I am, Katie.”

“B-b-but... HOW?!”

He shrugged, “The afterlife is confusing. I couldn’t give you an honest answer.”

“Afterlife…” Kathryn shook her head, “Nope, no. I am dreaming. I am not seeing a ghost right now. Kat, you are not seeing the ghost of your dead brother right now.”

Alex set his sticks on his seat and walked over to her. Hesitatingly, he reached for her wrist. He froze when he was able to grab it. Katie’s head snapped up so her eyes met his. This was real. He was real. She let out a sob and hugged him.

After a few minutes of hugging and crying, Alex guided his sister to the couch. As she wiped away her tears, he said, “I can’t believe you can see me. And touch me.”

“I just can’t believe you’re here. How are you here?”

“Like I said, the afterlife is weird,” he shrugged, “I’m a ghost. I can walk through things and go around without anyone seeing me. But for some reason people can see me and my friends when we play music with Julie, but that’s a whole other story. But I’m really confused why you can see me and why I can touch you.”

Katie shook her head, “This is so insane. So you know the girl that came over to my house yesterday and gave me these?” She held out the polaroids. Alex smiled a little and nodded, taking the pictures from her.

“I was there, too,” he admitted, “Julie didn’t find these. I gave them to her to give to you,” he paused, then looked to the ground, “why did you lie to your husband about me?”

Katie groaned a little, “Mom and dad made me lie. I don’t know why, though. Dad said something about how having a dead brother isn’t attractive or some bullshit like that.”

“So I see they are still on their bullshit,” Alex scoffed, “Figures.”

“What do you mean by that?” She asked.

Alex rolled his eyes, “There was a lot that I wasn’t allowed to tell you about. Mom and dad made me keep a lot of stuff that I cared about a secret from you because of how young you were. For instance, the band.”

Katie looked around the studio a bit, “So Julie wasn’t lying when she mentioned you being a band. I can’t believe you were in a band.”

“I technically still am, but, again, that’s another story,” Alex explained, “we were called Sunset Curve. I’m the drummer, obviously. We were a rock band.”

His sister looked at him and said, “But that’s the devil’s music.”

Oh for God’s sake. Alex wasn’t going to put up with this, even if it was Katie.

“You seriously can’t think that anymore.”

“But it’s the truth. It’s what the church said. It’s what mom and dad said.”

“There’s no scripture in the Bible that says anything against rock music, Katie. Trust me, God doesn’t care what kind of music you listen to or play.”

Katie sighed, “But all rock is about sex and drugs, which are both sins. Lust is a sin.”

“Luke did not write a single song that was about sex,” Alex told her, “trust me. We mostly sang about living in the moment, having fun, and being yourself.”

“Well that’s not that sinful…” Katie said, “But is it really rock if it’s not about those things?”

“The rock genre is pretty broad. You can write a rock song about anything. Trust me, we had a song called _Crooked Teeth_.”

“Okay, well obviously this whole band thing had some kind of bad influence on you,” Katie stood up, “I mean, look at what you’re wearing!”

Alex looked down at his outfit. He had on his normal black pants, his Nikes with white socks over his pants, a pink _Pansy Division_ shirt, and his ripped up jacket. The only thing that could possibly be questionable was the shirt, but at this rate Alex could guarantee that his sister didn’t know that band.

“This is what I always wear and what I always wanted to wear, even when I was younger. Mom and dad just didn’t let you see it. Like I said, they kept you sheltered from the life I decided to live.”

Katie crossed her arms, “Were you living that sinful of a life?”

“According to them, yes!” Alex stood up and threw his arms in the air, “All I wanted was the ability to be myself and do what I wanted to do. And I wanted to share that with you so badly because I loved you. But because you were so young, you weren’t allowed to know.”

Katie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and then put both hands on her hips. They stood there in silence for a minute, until Alex was finally able to face the most controversial part of the conversation.

“When did you finally learn about homosexuality?”

His sister thought about it for a second, “When I was about 14, maybe? I don’t know, mom and dad sat me down and showed me a verse from the Bible. I didn’t know anyone would want to date someone of the same sex. It didn’t seem right. From the get go, it didn’t seem natural. And according to the holy scripture, it isn’t.”

For Christ sake. Of course.

Of course she let their parents get into her head. They corrupted her with the false information of the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible did it condemn homosexuality. The verse she was referring to was about pedophilia, but if he hold her that, she wouldn’t believe him. 

Of course she had to be homophobic.

Alex let out a shaky breath and said, “Katie, I adored you. I loved every piece of you, inside and out. I loved braiding your hair and hyping you up before church choir concerts. I loved helping you with your homework and putting your art for me on my bedroom wall. I loved your bubbly personality and your high spirit. My twelve years of memories with you will always be treasured in my mind and in my heart…”

He didn’t want to say this next part, but he had to. He needed it to be all out so that this could be over. So that he could go back to his normal afterlife.

"But the fact that I never got to share the real me with you ended up costing you a lot. If I wouldn’t have died, I would have shown you so many wonderful things. I would have taught you lessons that I learned growing up so that you could face the world easier. I would have shown you how to love and care for everyone in this world, no matter their race, gender, sexuality, or religion. Because that is what matters most. Treating all other kinds of people with respect and dignity. But unfortunately I died before I could teach you those things, and it left you to be corrupted. And now here you are, irreversible. 

“So, before you head back to your perfect little family, I want you to know that I, your rock-loving gay brother, lived a happy life despite everything I had going against me, especially mom and dad. And my afterlife is just as happy and wonderful.”

Katie stood there speechless. She had no clue how to respond. She looked down at Alex’s wrist and noticed a small rainbow bracelet wrapped around it. Did he wear that when he was alive? How long had he had it? Before she could say anything, Alex spoke first.

“Please leave, Katie. I’m happy you are living a great life, but please go. And, please, don’t come back.”

She knew she couldn’t change his mind, just as much as he knew he couldn’t change her’s. They were two very different people than what they knew back in their childhoods. He was dead, and he had an afterlife he was living on his own. She had her life that she was very, very happy in. So, without a word, she took a deep breath and left the studio, leaving Alex alone again.

A few minutes later, Alex found himself back in the art museum, sitting on the bench. He could scream, but he didn’t need to. All he wanted at that moment was Willie. Lucky for him, Willie showed up not long later.

“Do you regret it?” Willie asked.

Alex shook his head, “Somehow, no. I mean, I got to see where she is in life. She’s happy. She has a family. At the same time I got to tell her everything I couldn’t back when I was alive. I’m super thankful for that. She and I just turned out to be two very different people. That happens between siblings.”

“Maybe she’ll start reconsidering things after you went off on her,” Willie shrugged, “you tend to have a positive affect on people.”

Alex locked eyes with Willie and he couldn’t help but smile. This man was everything to him. 

“I love you.”

Willie smiled and took Alex’s hand, “I love you, too, ‘lex.”

They shared a quick kiss, then spent the next few hours sitting on the bench talking about random things, like Alex hadn’t just seen his sister for the first time in over two decades. But, in the end, it didn’t matter. Alex’s life didn’t revolve around his relationship with his sister. The only things he needed were his bandmates, his music, and his love. With those things, he was whole.


End file.
